The Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Tsonam Akpeloo, has called on commercial banks to increase the availability of loanable funds to the private sector, stressing the need to support local manufacturing and job creation.
Speaking on Business Focus on Monday August 18 2025, Mr Akpeloo emphasised that the key to driving Ghana’s industrial growth lies in making financing more accessible to businesses, particularly within the manufacturing sector.
“What we need now is to support the manufacturing industry to create jobs, and the only way to do that is to make funds available,” he said.
He urged commercial banks to be more proactive in taking calculated risks to fund private sector initiatives, noting that risk aversion among banks is stifling growth.
“The commercial banks should take the risk to make funds available for the private sector to grow,” he added.
Mr Akpeloo also criticised the current trend of banks channeling resources into low-risk government securities at the expense of industrial lending.
“The money that would otherwise be used for loans for industrial development is being used to buy safe paper. If you do that, industry would lack the needed funds they require to expand,” he warned.
His comments come amid growing concerns from business leaders about limited access to credit, which continues to be a major constraint on private sector growth in Ghana.
